


Don't Let the Tide Come

by SadaVeniren



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Forbidden Love, Happy Ending, King Louis, M/M, Prince Harry Styles, Royalty, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Sourgasms, aka soulmate orgasms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-04 04:43:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15833982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadaVeniren/pseuds/SadaVeniren
Summary: "It holds the peace, Louis. And peace is good for our people. And above all else what is our goal as leaders?” His father asked, at least once a week during their lunches together.“To provide a stable and prosperous country so our people may flourish and want for nothing,” Louis said, the mantra he might as well cross stitched onto a pillow for how often he repeated it.“Exactly. We go and meet with the other tribes once every ten years to hold the peace, agree decade long trade, and re-establish borders. And then?”“We go back home and don’t think of them again.”“And why is that?”At this point Louis would have to hold in his sigh, his spine always feeling like it was starting to pulse. “Because fire is spread by air. Fire consumes the earth.”“And water?”The pulsing of his spine was most prominent when Louis said, “fire is snuffed out by the water.”aka King Louis of the fire tribe has a week to find his water tribe soulmate. This would be infinitely easier if the four tribes on the continent were not isolated from one another.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enigma_scars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigma_scars/gifts).



> Hiiii I really hope you enjoy the fic and that it's something you were hoping for! I had a lot of fun writing it :DD
> 
> Thanks to Sus and Emmu for being sounding boards for this fic, and also Nadya for cheering me on while I wrote this super, super fast!!
> 
> If you have any desire for MORE WORLDBUILDING you can check out the crappy map of the world, and what the soulmate tattoos look like [here](https://78.media.tumblr.com/9e82a0b62b990feb168da7814358a212/tumblr_peagpzGaOo1qgd0vy_540.jpg) and [here](https://78.media.tumblr.com/6a80654c70b91318e6e401e27103e2dd/tumblr_peagq0pA5A1qgd0vy_540.jpg) :D

_The bond which ties us together will make us stronger  
-Ancient Proverb_

***

The water tribe’s capital city was on the southern coast of the continent.

Louis had never been this far south before; the fire tribe’s borders encompassed the arid north west and stopped right as Great River Aire cut through the continent from north to south. All of the borders in the continent were natural from what Louis had learned studying geography - not like he would see all of the countries before he stepped down. At twenty-five he had ascended the throne so his people could have a stronger leader. His father was growing older and that made his power start to wane, much like one day Louis’ power would. And then he would step down and let his own first borne take over. That was the cycle his people had followed for hundred of years. It was the cycle that had been ingrained in him since his birth.

Much like the reason he was visiting the water tribe’s capital city.

_”It holds the peace, Louis. And peace is good for our people. And above all else what is our goal as leaders?” His father asked, at least once a week during their lunches together._

_“To provide a stable and prosperous country so our people may flourish and want for nothing,” Louis said, the mantra he might as well cross stitched onto a pillow for how often he repeated it._

_“Exactly. We go and meet with the other tribes once every ten years to hold the peace, agree decade long trade, and re-establish borders. And then?”_

_“We go back home and don’t think of them again.”_

_“And why is that?”_

_At this point Louis would have to hold in his sigh, his spine always feeling like it was starting to pulse. “Because fire is spread by air. Fire consumes the earth.”_

_“And water?”_

_The pulsing of his spine was most prominent when Louis said, “fire is snuffed out by the water.”_

_“And that’s why peace would never be accomplished if we were allied with other tribes. While working with the air tribe would be prosperous for us, it would lead to conflict with the earth tribe, and we would ultimately be destroyed by the water tribe. Much better to keep to ourselves.”_

The lessons he was taught all throughout his childhood only helped nail that lesson home. History covered how the four tribes had come to this decision after almost a century of war. Countless of people were killed because of the fighting, proving the nations were unable to coincide. Literature covered the same stories. Even the fiction novels Louis would read - usually on the subject of star crossed lovers because he was a romantic deep down - ended in disaster, with one or both of the lovers killed in their desire to unite the four nations.

And of course, it was always a member of the fire tribe falling in love with a member of the water tribe. As if he needed anymore reminders besides the pulsing in his back.

The mark that reminded him his own happy ending was impossible.

 _Soulmates_. The one person crafted by the gods for you, and you for them.

His mother had been with him when his had appeared down the length of his spine, spelling out in the lines of their language the family name of his future partner. He was lucky that she had been the one to see it, because he wasn’t sure how his father would have reacted.

It grew on him like the flames in his hands when he had started learning to manifest them. Hot and lashing, his eyes had pricked with tears and he tried to reach back to soothe his skin somehow.

His mother had cooed at him as she pushed his hands aside even though he was thirteen and almost too old for that kind of treatment. He remembered the words on the tip of his tongue. _I’m going to be king one day!_

Her gasp had stopped him.

“What does it say? Mother?” He had managed to choke out, the fire burning down.

He had felt her cool finger tip trace the lines on his back and he closed his eyes, trying to spell out the letters with her.

_R-A-I-N-S-T-_

“Mother, stop. What are you spelling? Why are you writing out _rain_?” He’d grabbed hold of her wrist stopping her. That wasn’t right. His mark was supposed to spell out the family name of his soulmate. His fire tribe soulmate.

“Oh, oh honey,” she said, and he could tell she was starting to cry.

“Mum?” He turned around to look at her. “Mum, what am I going to do?”

She had bundled him up in her arms and he hadn’t protested. He’d needed the comfort.

He needed it even more now that he was inside the water tribe’s capital for his first experience of the tribal meeting, but his mother hadn’t been part of the small delegation that had come with him. No, he was alone here, except for his three most trusted security guards - Perrie, Lauren, and Bebe - and his adviser - Steve. All he had of his mother were her words of encouragement before he’d left, and the little sheet of paper she’d written that had a copy of his soulmate tattoo on it, so he could try and find his soulmate’s family.

He only had a week to accomplish this, and he knew he’d be under watch for most of it. His father had never been to the water tribe - the thirty years of his reign saw him go to the earth tribe, air tribe, and then host the meeting in their own capital city when Louis had been 15 - but he had experienced similar constraints in the other countries. Louis remembered how tight security had been at the castle last meeting. They didn’t want anyone to get out and cause problems.

It would make his task difficult but he _needed_ to do this.

He was brought back to the present by Perrie opening the door to his carriage. They had ridden into the water tribe’s country since taking a ship wasn’t an option.

“Your highness,” she said, all formality. “We’ve arrived at the villa they’ve assigned you. Lauren and Bebe have gone in to sweep the residence.”

Louis stretched and got out of the carriage. “I’m sure they’ll find nothing.”

“They better find nothing,” Perrie said. “Steve stayed at the main house to finish getting the schedule with the adviser from the air tribe.”

“You felt comfortable leaving him unguarded?”

“Steve assured me he knew the air tribe adviser well from his correspondences and did not feel threatened by him. I’ve learned to trust Steve because he’s going to do what he wants anyway.”

This was true. It was one of the reasons Steve was who he had chosen from his father’s council as the person he wanted as his advisor. Louis didn’t want a yes man; he wanted someone who had their own thoughts but were working towards the same goal as him. Steve and he both wanted the fire tribe to prosper and live in peace. Getting a different perspective on how that could be accomplished meant more to Louis than getting his way.

Lauren and Bebe came out of the villa and nodded to Perrie. The residence were safe. The four of them began unpacking the carriage. They had travelled light since there were only five of them. It made the lavish villa look even more sparse since they didn’t have much to fill it with, and the water tribe had only provided the most basic of furnishings to allow the visiting tribes to feel more like home. Louis remembered having the same provided when they had hosted ten years ago.

By the time Steve returned they had settled down as much as they could. Louis could tell his three bodyguards were tense. This was after all their first big assignment. All things considered there wasn’t much danger when he went to survey his people. He was a well loved ruler who had only received two death threats since taking over as king, and one of them turned out to be a prank by a preteen who hadn’t realized how seriously threats were taken. But here there were so many unknown variables.

And that wasn’t considering what Louis was going to do the first night he had free.

That no doubt made them the most nervous.

“Did you get it?” Louis asked the moment Steve inside the front door.

Steve gave him an almost serene smile as he took off his shoes. He was going to make Louis wait. “May I have some tea first, your highness? I’m parched.”

“You’re an asshole,” Louis said but he stepped to the side and let Steve make his way towards the sitting room where there was a pot of tea waiting, along with what the water tribe thought must have been a small twist on traditional fire tribe food: sliced grilled chicken with some sort of starchy vegetables that Louis assumed were native to the south. There was a dipping sauce for the chicken, and lettuce to wrap everything in. Lauren had enjoyed it all at least.

“I have the schedule for the week. They are hosting a welcome party tonight for all the other tribes. Did you know we are the smallest delegation? The earth tribe brought nearly fifty people. Anton tells me they’re presenting it as if the earth king is very popular, but the rumor is that he’s so green he needs that many people to watch his steps. They’re worried he’s going to mess up and somehow ruin the trade of oak or something equally ridiculous.”

Louis tried not to roll his eyes in impatience. Steve was no doubt telling him these things for a reason. _Be nice to the earth king. He’s probably a baby._

“The air tribe only has twenty people in their delegation. That’s because King Liam just had an assassination attempt. Apparently the air tribe is having a lot of problems because it has been a very rough harvest for the past three years and they are hoping there is some way to get a better deal on food.”

“They’d need something to trade with. They only have the stone of the mountains and all of us have mountains as well. Not as many, but enough to devalue their own bounty.”

Steve pulled out a pouch from his bag, the bag that hopefully had what else Louis needed. “Good thing two years ago air tribe miners found these.” He opened the pouch and poured out stones, ones unlike anything Louis had ever seen. There were five of them: a pure black stone with a smooth shiny surface, a glittering blue stone that was jagged like it had been cut, a smooth white stone with streaks of orange and red cutting through it, a shiny green stone that was almost translucent, and finally the smallest of the stones, no bigger than Louis’ pinkie nail, it looked like glass. “They’ve been making jewelry out of them, and believe that at least one of our tribes will find them valuable.”

Translation: Steve was given a bribe from the adviser of the air tribe.

“What did you promise him in return?”

“I merely told him our livestock are doing very well. We might even have an abundance of goats and cows.”

Louis nodded in understanding. His father’s words rang in the back of his head. _We agree to decade long trades, and reestablish borders, and then go home and never think of them again._

This year he was meant to reestablish a need for vegetation from the earth and water tribes, since the earth tribe’s wood wasn’t suited for their climate. They took stone from the air tribe because there was nothing else the air tribe could give them, even though they didn’t need as much of it to build their homes. In return they traded meat and glasswares. The fire tribe’s traditional glass was worth enough food to feed a village for a month.

He thought for a moment as he looked at the stones. He could see how the raw materials could become coveted among some of the tribe’s more renowned glass makers. He picked up the blue stone and warmed it up with a flame in between his thumb and forefinger. He tried to press the stone down and frowned as it didn’t move. He heated up the flame a bit more, hot enough that the glass would melt and felt as it only became just a bit softer.

“Fascinating. I will keep these in mind. Perrie, do you think Leigh Anne would like these for her vases?” He vanished the flame so she could look at it.

“I’m sure she could find a use for it,” Perrie said.

“Good to know.” Louis handed the stone to her. “A present from your trip for her.” He picked up the other four stones and handed one each to Lauren, Steve, and Bebe. He kept the green stone for himself, tucking it in the pocket of his tunic. “Anything else you wish to report?” Louis was holding himself back from asking outright again.

Steve gave him a smile and pulled out a bound book. “I did manage to acquire the family book for the water tribe.” For something that was supposed to hold a record of every family in the water tribe going back centuries, it was a lot smaller than Louis was expecting. “And I did so without alerting anyone, so you do not have worry about some lie going about. There were multiple volumes, but I made sure to grab the one that should be the most relevant to you.”

Louis took the book with shaky hands. In here held the first piece of finding his soulmate. Because of their isolation there had been no way for Louis to even begin to track down his soulmate despite knowing their family name. He knew each tribe kept records of everyone born so that way people could find their soulmates when they came of age. He’d been thinking of this since he had realized he’d be going to the water tribe over ten years ago.

But now he was almost too scared to open it. What if he couldn’t find his soulmate’s family name?

“Would you like me to do the honors?” Steve asked.

Louis shook his head. “No. No I can do it.” He opened the cover.

Hundred of names stared back at him, written in birth order.

This was going to take longer than he expected.

The fire tribe kept their records alphabetical, but it seemed the water tribe catalogued it differently.

“How much time do I have before we’re pulled away for the party?”

“They said at sunset so you probably have about four hours. But if you want to get dressed and presentable you’ll probably only have three hours.”

“Well I guess I should get started.”

***

In the three hours he had before he had to get ready Louis had found no mention of a “Styles” family member being born. In fairness he had only gotten through one year of water tribe births and this book had another nine. And there wasn’t even a full guarantee that this would be the decade his soulmate was born. Age didn’t seem to be a factor for soulmates. Louis knew some that were birthday twins, and also knew of a soulmate pair that was 50 years apart. That had been a truly tragic pairing, with the older wife dying only a few months after her soulmate found her.

Louis had to hope his soulmate would at least be a similar age to him. Otherwise Steve would have to go acquire another book and who knew if he’d be able to.

The hall the welcome party was being hosted in was at the center of the capital city. As Louis was escorted there by the water tribe guide they’d been assigned - Mitch - he started to notice just how small the water tribe capital city was. He wondered why that was. The population seemed steady according to the book he’d been looking at, and most of the births were registered as being from here. So why was the actual city so small?

Louis could only ponder it for so long as his attention got caught by the simplistic decor that covered the hall. There were people milling around outside the hall, spilling into the street. Clearly the water tribe thought it best to welcome everyone with alcohol, with everyone in good spirits.

“If you’ll follow me I can introduce you to Queen Anne,” Mitch said. “Then you will be free to mingle for the rest of the evening.”

Steve leaned into Louis and whispered in his ear. “Anton told me that Queen Anne is only a figurehead. Her eldest is set to ascend the throne in a matter of months so she is the one who has been making all the decisions.”

Louis nodded as he followed Mitch into the main room. He spotted Queen Anne immediately. She was in the back of the room, greeting people. He was able to bypass the queue of people with Mitch. The Queen’s eyes were warm as she laid eyes on him.

“King Louis,” she said. “I’m glad you could come.” She held out her hand and for the second time in his life he shook hands with a water tribe member. He had been too scared to touch any of the other visitors - afraid he’d be exposed to his soulmate before he was ready. “It’s good to see you again.”

Louis vaguely remembered meeting her ten years ago. It wasn’t protocol to tell her that though. Instead he pasted on his “royal smile” and bowed his head in respect. “Queen Anne. It’s my pleasure. You have a beautiful country.”

“Why thank you. I’m glad you are finding it well. And your guide has been helpful?”

“He has been, yes. I thank you for assigning him to me.”

“You brought a small party, I notice. You would have been welcome to bring your family.”

That line of conversation Louis has not been expecting. “My father thought it best that he stay behind to allow me to have full run of everything. If he joined there was a good chance he’d be stepping on my toes. We’ve been trying to have a peaceful transition.”

“But still, your partner could have joined,” Queen Anne hesitated for a moment and then carried through with her question, “unless they needed to stay home with the children.”

Louis kept his face neutral. He’d been expecting this kind of questioning. It was how each tribe got information on each other after all. He’d already prepared how to answer the question as neutral as possible. “I haven’t married my soulmate yet.”

Queen Anne nodded in understanding and they continued to have ideal chitchat for a few more moments before Louis was able to excuse himself to go mingle with the rest of the guest.

Lauren was in charge of checking all drinks and food before Louis could eat any. He was just taking a sip of his drink when two men approached him. They looked almost like brothers for their facial similarities though one was a bit broader with his hair shaved close to his head, and he was wearing ever so slightly more regal clothes.

Steve leaned into his ear. “King Liam of the air tribe and his adviser Anton.”

King Liam held out his hand as he got close enough to Louis. “King Louis, a pleasure to meet you.”

“You as well, King Liam.”

King Liam glanced at Anton and then Steve before settling back on Louis. “I hope you have had a pleasant evening so far.”

“I have. The water tribe is very hospitable.”

“They are. I was wondering if you’d be interested in taking a walk with me outside? Queen Anne told me there was a lovely water garden just around the back.”

Louis felt a hand on his back and his eyes darted behind him. Bebe was on his other side, telling him with her touch that she’d accompany him and Steve. Speaking with the king of the air tribe would only push off his hopes of exploring the city - and maybe letting fate run him into his soulmate - but Louis realized that going outside would give him a perfect out to go missing later. 

“I would love to see the water gardens. Lead the way,” Louis said.

They kept up light conversation about how pretty and light they found the water gardens until they were deep enough into them. It hadn’t been a lie, the water garden was filled with lush flowers and plants that fed into the two running streams that followed the path. There were points where the streams opened into larger lakes and from the soft lights that lit the path Louis could see lilies and reeds sticking up from the lake.

They crossed a bridge, finally far enough away that the party noises were very faint.

“Did you enjoy the stones?” King Liam asked.

Louis could feel the weight of the green one tucked away in his pocket. He’d already thought about what he would do with such a pretty stone. “They are very beautiful. I could see our tribe coveting them.”

King Liam nodded, as if that’s what he wanted to hear. “The mountains can be rough sometimes for animals, and since I have taken over I’ve tried to carve out more space for farmers to grow not only food but raise livestock.”

“We use goats almost exclusively in our mountain ranges. Chickens can work as well, though the domesticated ones have been known to wander off cliffs and fall to their deaths.”

King Liam snorted, obviously trying to contain his laughter. When he collected himself he nodded. “Goats… goats would be good.”

“How much do you value the stones for?”

He and King Liam went back and forth, bartering and negotiating the value of stones to goats and other imported meats. King Liam wanted to have a mix of studs and females so the air tribe could one day become self sufficient. _Goats for every family,_ he said. 

Louis was pleased with the beginning of the business. His father had said that informal trades made before the official meetings were important in keeping everyone happy. The air tribe and fire tribe were natural allies and it was good to see King Liam respected that. It meant their reign together would be good.

When they were done Louis let King Liam leave without him. He told him he wanted to explore the rest of the water garden and King Liam accepted the answer. Hopefully he would pass it on to anyone who asked about Louis’ whereabouts.

Louis waited until King Liam had disappeared back down the winding path before he beckoned for Bebe and Steve to follow him. He didn’t say anything until they had walked even further. The lights that lit the path were getting more sparse leaving on the half moon lighting Louis’ way.

“I should be fine going ahead,” he finally said to Bebe and Steve. “I’m sure we’re near the end of the garden. I’ll make my way back to the villa and begin going over the books again. Hopefully I’ll finish tonight so I can let you know if I need another volume.”

“I still don’t like that you aren’t letting me come with you,” Bebe said.

“I’ll be safe. And besides, if people remember seeing all of you there, looking normal, then they won’t think I’ve gone off.”

“This isn’t the palace, Louis,” Bebe said, dropping his honorific. “And we aren’t trying to fool your mother. These people don’t know who we are and won’t remember us. They’ll remember you.”

“I agree with Bebe, but I understand why you want to do this,” Steve said, leveling Louis with a look. “Please be safe, and don’t wander too far in any one direction. If you are looking for fate to intervene you don’t have to go searching for it.”

“Thank you, O Wise Steve of the Aoki Family.” Louis gave a mock bow. “I’ll be safe. I haven’t died yet, have I? And I did some pretty stupid things as a teenager.”

“Much to everyone’s dismay, yes.” Steve took Bebe by the bicep and began to lead her away.

And then he was alone. Louis took a deep breath and continued down the path. He didn’t know for sure when the water garden would end, but the moon had moved from one side of the sky to being almost overhead in the time he’d been outside so he had to be walking for awhile.

The plants and trees got denser as he walked, and the lakes got bigger. The sound of water running so consistently was foreign to him, and only added to the ambiance of the garden. There were lightning bugs that kept flashing over the lakes as he walked over bridge after footbridge.

Louis stopped and leaned against one of the bridges, looking out over an open lake. He could see the ripples in the water from the fish that lived in the lake, and he took a deep breath. It was very possible his soulmate had grown up with something similar. That his soulmate was used to such lush vegetation and water. He never considered his home country to be particularly rough, but it was much dryer. Their plants were hardier, equipped to survive with little to no water. They only had the Great River Aire as a large water source after all. That and the oceans. The rest of the country was desert.

Would his soulmate be okay with leaving something like this and coming with him? Or would they be fated to be doomed like all of the characters Louis read about?

He heard a large splash in the water and he spun around. On the other side of the bridge the lake wasn’t so open. There were lily pads and reeds that hid most of the water. Louis hadn’t seen any animals on his walk so far but that didn’t mean there weren’t some here. He hoped they weren’t dangerous. That would be just his luck.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” a voice said from behind him.

Louis turned around, startled. A man stepped out of the shadows, and onto the path. He was tall but slim, and it looked like he was wearing what Louis remembered as traditional water tribe tunics, made from thin linen that draped to the floor, covering their whole bodies. “I could say the same for you.”

The man stepped closer to him and the moonlight illuminated his face enough that Louis could make it out. He was beautiful, with plush lips and serious eyes. His dark wet hair framed his face, curling around his jaw, and leaving water droplets on his skin. The tunic he was wearing clung to his body instead of flowing freely like Louis had seen on other water tribe members. Had he been swimming?

He took Louis’ breath away.

“I’m allowed to go where I want,” the man said. “I have a feeling you don’t have that same permission.” The man looked around. “Where is your guide? Which tribe are you from?”

The question reminded Louis of his place in the world and he squared his shoulders. “I’m Louis, from the fire tribe.”

 _Something_ crossed the man’s face, and he took a tiny step back before he steadied himself. “Well, _Louis_ of the fire tribe, may I escort you back to the hall? This part of the garden wasn’t meant to be seen.” The man reached from him but Louis pulled his arm away before he could touch him.

“I was just enjoying the fresh air. I will go back when I’m ready.”

The man sighed. “Then I’ll stay with you. Mitch is probably going crazy wondering where you are.”

Louis wondered if this man was an off-duty guide. Probably, since he knew Mitch was supposed to be his guide. Louis almost felt bad for putting him on the clock when he was clearly not supposed to be working, but then the man reached for him again to try and steer him back towards the hall.

“ _Don’t touch me_ ,” Louis snapped. He was suddenly afraid of the unknown. He had planned on being alone with the hopes to stumble upon his soulmate but this man was stripping him of his nerves. All the confidence… slipping away. He walked backwards, keeping an eye on the man, who was hiding his face in the shadow of his hair. Louis wondered if he’d hurt his feelings when he said that. No. He couldn’t care about that.

Louis kept walking backwards until he felt the wood of the bridge give way to the dirt of the path. He didn’t know where he was going so he’d need to turn around, but if he turned around the man would be at his back. Not that he was even following Louis anymore. He was still standing there on the bridge, looking contemplative.

“Your highness,” the man called, showing his hand that he knew who Louis was. “Please come back. There’s a serious chance you’re giving a man a heart attack right now and everything I’ve heard about you and your tribe tells me you aren’t the kind of person who wants to cause the death of an innocent man.”

Louis paused and put his hands on his hips. He didn’t like the tone the man was taking with him.

“He has a wife, you know. With a baby on the way. You don’t want to be the reason a baby grows up without their father, do you?”

“You’re ridiculous, has anyone ever told you that?”

Even from this distance, and in the dark, Louis could see the way the man’s face lit up. “Every day of my life.”

Louis took a step forward, accepting his fate. He would not have any destined meetings with his soulmate tonight. If he was lucky he’d barely get back to his villa with enough time to pour over another three pages of the family book before he went to sleep. “Lead the way back, then.”

“Thank you, your highness,” the man said, as he turned his back to Louis and began walking.

The walk back through the garden to the hall seemed to take a much shorter amount of time, and soon the lush garden gave way to the hall where people had started to spill out.

Mitch came rushing up to him soon after he stepped back into the hall, Steve and Lauren right behind him.

“Your highness! Where have you been?” Mitch’s voice was high pitched when he panicked and Louis _did_ feel bad for scaring him. He hadn’t meant to worry anyone with his disappearance. The man had been correct.

“I was just admiring the gardens in the moonlight,” Louis said.

Mitch’s eyes slid to the man next to him and he bowed at his waist. “Thank you, my prince.”

Louis was confused, wondering why Mitch was thanking him, and giving him the wrong title at that?

“It was no problem,” the man next to him said. Louis swung around to look at him, confused. _What_? “We met by the back lake. We gave each other quite a scare but I managed to get King Louis back here in one piece. I think you should let him see the gardens in the daytime, he’s quite a big fan of them.”

Mitch’s eyes did _something_ and it was the same kind of look Harry had given him before. Like he wanted to say something but not in front of mixed company. “Thank you for the suggestion, my prince.”

The man - the _prince_? - locked eyes with Steve and Lauren over Mitch’s shoulders. “These must be two members of your delegation, King Louis. A pleasure to meet you, I’m Prince Harry.” He shook first Steve’s hand and then Lauren’s, looking relaxed as they introduced themselves. “I unfortunately won’t be sitting in on any of the meetings during this week, the joys of being the second child, but it’s always good to see new faces. We are happy to open our country to you.” He turned back and looked at Louis. “Enjoy the rest of your evening, your highness.” He bowed his head and walked off, melding into the crowd.

Louis watched him go, finding himself wishing Prince Harry had kept calling him _Louis_.


	2. Chapter 2

True to his words Louis didn’t see Prince Harry for the first two days of the meeting, only at night when they had large banquets to celebrate breaking bread together. And that was only from across the hall, where Prince Harry sat to the left of his mother, opposite his elder sister.

Louis hated the banquets. They were a waste of time he could be going through the book. Instead he had to do it while he was bone tired before bed, and when he woke up before first light. He had been doing that for the first two days and had gotten through five years of the volume. He _had_ managed to find the name of one Styles family member born, a Gemma Styles, born here in the capital twenty four years ago.

Louis traced Gemma’s name, wondering if this was his soulmate. He tried to imagine what they looked like - the name was not familiar to him, it must have been water tribe exclusive. There was also a chance that Gemma was the older or younger sibling of his soulmate, and trying to find a younger sibling would help him see if the family had moved. But he had at least one name, and an age.

That was enough for him to start to feel antsy. He was so close. After waiting over 12 years he could practically taste his soulmate.

But then that brought up another fear. Would his soulmate even want him? If they were his age maybe they had grown tired of waiting for him? Or worse. What if they had tried to go and find him? What if they were in his country looking for him? What if him being here was a mistake? Fate had made him wait this long, would fate make him wait even longer?

He needed to go out into the city and try to find the Styles family.

This required the help of his team. Perrie had grabbed him a water tribe outfit to wear. He figured if he dressed the part he’d have an easier time blending in with a crowd of water tribe people. The plan was simple, he was going to sneak away from Mitch tonight, go into the city, find people and begin asking around about the Styles family. His role was that of a water tribe person from the outer borders, near the Great River Aire. It would be the best cover since he knew of the culture of the fire tribe people that lived there, and he assumed the water tribe couldn’t be too different. They were both farmers, using the natural mineral deposits from the river to grow prosperous farms.

“Are you sure about this?” Steve asked as he watched him put on the tunic.

“What else am I supposed to do? I’ve waited almost half my life for this to happen. I’m not going to sit around and wait any longer if I can help it.”

Steve frowned. “Don’t you think it’s much more realistic you’ll find your soulmate here? The fates do not work when you’re the one forcing them. That’s actually the exact opposite for how they work.”

“ _If fate does not provide a way, I will carve one_.” Louis repeated a line from one of his favorite books. It was a romance novel involving a fire tribe boy and a water tribe boy. Louis must have read it one thousand times since he discovered it when he was fourteen. It was beautifully written, and the love between the two boys was deep enough that when their powers combined they altered weather patterns themselves. 

The line came right before the climax. The fire tribe boy - Tomas - said it to his beloved - Marcus - as they were discussing telling everyone about their bonding. Marcus had been scared, afraid they were tempting fate with revealing themselves when they had been living so happily together for months in secret. Tomas, the hot headed fire tribe member he was, passionately declared that he was sick of the fates taking their time. He was going to seize his own destiny and allow them to be together openly.

“If I remember that book correctly both characters die tragically, throwing themselves into the seas as a symbolic gesture. I believe the moral of that story was specifically _don’t tempt the fates_.”

“The moral of the story was people are bigots for stopping true love.”

“The epilogue said that the continent devolved into an endless war because of their deaths. I really question you basing a lot of your romantic ideals off of this book.”

“Will you cover for me or not, Steve? If I find them tonight, my soulmates family, there’s a good chance I won’t return immediately.”

Steve closed his eyes, but nodded. “You’ve fallen ill. The food here is very rich. You’ve been vomiting all night. I will be standing in for you.”

Louis patted Steve’s shoulder, dressed and ready to go. “You’re the best adviser I could ask for. Thank you, my friend.”

“Please be safe, my friend.” Steve pulled him into an embrace. “And may the fates be on your side.”

They released each other and Steve showed Louis out of his room. Perrie, Lauren, and Bebe were there to give him their own hugs and well wishes as he prepared to leave out the back door.

He took a deep breath to settle him. He waved one last time, and then he was outside.

It felt a bit anticlimactic as the door shut behind him and Louis was left alone in the backyard of the villa. He couldn’t hear any voices so he walked around the villa to the main road. He began walking away from the hall he had been at for the last couple days, embarking towards unknown territory. He hoped the road he was following would lead him to a town meeting area, or something similar. He had not seen anything like that on his way to the hall so maybe it had been in the opposite direction.

The road he was on quickly turned into something that reminded him of the gardens he had been in on the first night. The walkway ended up going over large lakes, with plush vegetation. Louis sighed as he made his way down the path, hoping eventually he would find someone, or something that would point him in the direction of a town gathering.

It was too dark to even fully admire the lakes around him, and the way it seemed like the bridges practically floated on top of them, connected to nothing else but itself. He wanted to walk it in the afternoon like Prince Harry had told Mitch to let him, but he was far too busy with his schedule to do that.

He stopped in the middle of a bridge, hands on his hips as he looked around him. The moon was waning so it was darker than the nights before, making it even harder to see what was around him. The lakes looked like inky blackness and it almost was at the edge of unnerving.

“What are you doing here, Louis?”

Louis jumped and turned around, shoving the person who had just whispered near his ear. A shock shot threw him as he saw Prince Harry flail backwards, splashing into the water with a shriek. Louis gasped, covering his mouth as he waited for Prince Harry to appear.

_Oh no, he’d shoved the water tribe prince into the water, what was he going to do?_

He watched in horror as bubbles stopped forming where Prince Harry had fallen and Louis had a horrific moment where he wondered...could the prince not swim? He always assumed all water tribe people could swim - what with the connection to water and presumably the ability to control water like he could control fire - but maybe that was a mistake on his part? After all… he grew up by the sea and never learned to swim. It’s very possible the prince had no interest in swimming?

Should Louis save him?

 _Would_ Louis be able to save him? Clearly the water was much deeper than he had anticipated if the prince could sink so far down.

“Prince?” Louis whispered. “Harry? Harry are you drowning?” What was he _doing?_ Did he honestly expect the prince to appear just because he asked such an asinine question?

Prince Harry’s head emerged from the water. It was just the top part of his face, his nose and mouth still submerged, but Louis felt his entire body sag in relief.

“You’re alive. Here, let me help you up onto the bridge. You terrified me.” He held out his hand for Prince Harry’s hand and then realized what he was doing. He pulled his hand away before Prince Harry could touch him. “Come on. Get up here.”

Prince Harry’s eyes narrowed and he slowly raised his head out of water. Louis squinted his eyes as he saw what looked like glitter coming up to his cheeks. Was there some sort of glittering algae in the lake?

Prince Harry swam up to the bridge and put his hands up on it to give him something to brace on. Louis frowned as he looked at Prince Harry’s hands. Had they always been webbed? His eyes darted back to his face and neck where the glitter didn’t seem to be going away. Prince Harry pulled himself up onto the wooden pathway. Louis hadn’t been imagining things, his face _was_ covered in cerulean glitter. They looked almost like scales, creeping up his neck from beneath the linen of his tunic. Louis couldn’t take his eyes off of Prince Harry’s face. Well, not until he heard a splash in the water. Then his eyes darted down, catching a flash of something glittering in the water. It looked like the same color as the glitter on Prince Harry’s skin.

 _Wait_.

Louis’ eyes traced from the water up to Harry. Where legs should have been - where he swore at one point legs _were_ Louis saw instead a fused together cerulean fin. He watched in awe as the fin flicked, exposing the almost translucent ends of the fin for a moment before it splashed against the water, spraying some up into the air.

“What?”

“I can explain?” Prince Harry’s voice was quiet and unsure.

Louis’ eyes darted up to his. What was he going to explain? How he no long had legs? How he had a _fin_ instead? “Do you turn back?”

Prince Harry pulled his fin entirely out of the water and gave it a shake to dry it out. He spun so he was resting it on the bridge. Louis watched as slowly the cerulean glitter scales faded and Prince Harry’s legs appeared, pale and separated. His bare feet sat in the place of the fins and Prince Harry gave his toes a little wiggle. Suddenly the long tunics that were common in the water tribe made sense.

“Does everyone in the water tribe do that?”

“Does everyone in the fire tribe manifest and control fire?” Prince Harry shot back.

“I- but no book has ever mentioned this? You all… turn into these creatures?”

Prince Harry gave a slow nod. His tunic was soaked through, sticking to his body. “It’s a tribal secret. Not meant to be shared with outsiders.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Louis said quickly. Maybe too quickly, but it was true. No one would believe him. Prince Harry was looking at him oddly, almost cautiously. Louis tried to give him his most reassuring smile. “I promise. On my country.”

“What were you doing out here?” Prince Harry asked.

Louis thought about lying but then he remembered what he had just seen. By his guess Prince Harry could have stayed underwater and never exposed himself to Louis, but he _had_. That amount of faith deserved to be repaid.

“I’m looking for my soulmate.”

Prince Harry’s mouth dropped open. “Your...soulmate.”

Louis nodded, feeling the heat of his mark lighting up at the mention of it. “I have a water tribe soulmate.”

“You...do.” Prince Harry was saying it slowly.

“Yes.” Louis made sure to say it with more confidence. “I have a water tribe soulmate and I am planning to find them.”

Prince Harry closed his mouth, and now he looked like he was frowning. “And how do you intend to do that?”

“Well, I know their family name. And I found that at least one person with that family name was born in this city so I was hoping to find something like a bar, or meeting center where I could ask around for the name.”

“You won’t find anything like that here. I’m not sure you realized, but the upper part of the entire city is in a closed loop. You really just walked to the back end of the gardens. If you’d kept walking you would have ended up at the hall, and then your villa. The rest of the city is underground, in the water.”

Louis felt himself fishmouth. “You mean… this entire part is just for show?”

“Not for show. We do come on land occasionally. But our cities are all in the water.”

Louis’ head fell back in disbelief. “How am I going to find them now?” He looked back at Prince Harry who was worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. “You don’t happen to know of the Styles family?”

Prince Harry jolted and then he nodded his head quickly. “Yes. Yes I do.”

 _Fate was wonderful_.

“Really? Could you take me to them?”

“Yes. Yes absolutely. I could do that. Yeah I know...I know where we could go to get to them.” Prince Harry stood up and Louis mimicked him. “Here we need to get off the path and head out of the city. It’s back towards where you entered the city. We’ll be going down into a cave.” Prince Harry looked at him carefully. “I hope that’s okay?”

“Yes,” Louis breathed. _Anything_ to meet his soulmate.

***

The cave Harry (they had both agreed to drop their honorifics) brought him to was more of an opening in the ground. It was a steep descent down some unsteady looking rocks that made Louis feel incredibly uneasy. He lit a flame at the end of his finger and held it up to give him some light as they descended into the darkness of the cave.

He wasn’t sure how long it would last. The cave was damp, and when they reached the floor Louis could feel water under his feet, soaking into the thin leather of his water tribe shoes. And from what he could see up ahead the water was only getting deeper.

“Don’t worry,” Harry had assured him. “It only gets up to about my knee, and then it starts receding again.”

Louis wasn’t sure how much of a comfort that was supposed to be, but he was glad he had the warmth of his flames to keep him from freezing. The water was cold as it started to lap at his ankles, and the linen of the tunic provided nothing but freedom of movement.

“So, how does the transformation work?” Louis asked, wanting to fill the silence that had settled over them since they stopped the idle chit chat as they climbed down into the cave. His voice echoed, carrying down and back. “You can get your feet wet without turning? Is there a level of control?”

Harry looked back at him and Louis could see his smile in the flickering shadow of his flame. “It’s not control exactly. We have to be fully submerged for starters, so just walking into a puddle won’t do it. And the control is actually to stop ourselves from changing. Babies are born in the water, and we don’t step foot on land until we’re toddlers.”

“It would be safe to say your natural state is actually in the water, and you are changing to have two legs then?”

Harry’s nod was cast around the walls of the cave. “That’s a good way of putting it. We spend a lot of our adult lives in the water too… the night we met I was actually coming up from the lower parts of the city. I’d lost track of time and was running late. I didn’t expect to see anyone that far away from the hall so you really surprised me.”

“ _That’s_ why you were wet!” It was all making sense now.

“Yeah. I tried to dry off as much as possible before you saw me, but I couldn’t fix my hair.”

“That makes sense. It’s a good thing our capital city is on the coast then.”

“Why’s that?”

“For my soulmate. They’ll be used to spending time in the water and I wouldn’t want to deny them that. Our country is almost entirely desert so if our capital had been in the middle of the country they’d have no where to swim. But on the coast they can go down to the beaches. We have some beautiful beaches.”

“I’d love to see them,” Harry said. His voice was softer than it had been, and Louis only heard him because of the echo.

“I’m sure you will,” Louis said. “Once I meet them and we bond and show it can be done it will be easy to open up our borders between my tribe and yours.”

“You think so? Even with the way our countries have been divided?”

“Of course. I mean… so I don’t know how it is with you and your soulmate, but I’ve had my mark since I was thirteen. And when I first got it I was terrified. My father had spent all my life reminding me why our countries were divided, and that it was for the better of everyone. I haven’t even _told_ him yet that my soulmate is from the water tribe. He would be furious, and tell me how everything is going to fall apart and we’ll dissolve into war.”

“But you don’t believe that?” Harry’s pace was slowing down, and he turned.

The water had gotten up to his knees now, and Louis’ teeth were starting to chatter. He wanted to keep moving, but he wouldn’t be able to go around Harry. “No. I don’t.”

“Then why do you think we’re separated?”

The question took him off guard. “Well because of the potential for war of course?” He could see even in the dark that Harry didn’t know what he was talking about. “You know, the old saying? Fire is spread by air. Fire consumes the earth. Fire is snuffed out by water. Our tribe can be prosperous allies with the air tribe, but that partnership would lead to the isolation of the earth kingdom, especially because of the geography of the continent, and in our hubris we would try and take over them. And that would leave you, the water tribe, to defeat us. It would be a war like we have never seen, and so many lives would be lost.”

“That doesn’t make any sense though,” Harry said. “And I’ve never heard that saying in my life.”

“What? But...it’s _why_ things are the way they are. My father taught me that, and his mother taught him, and her mother taught her. And so far back, for generations.”

“We live in isolation because we fear our fins being cut off, and being stolen as some sort of attraction in other tribes. That’s why the transformation is a secret. That’s why we’ve spread stories of treacherous waves and creatures that inhabit the waters to stop the other tribes from trying to come and see us. And _that_ makes sense. We do it for survival and even when our countries become allies, and work together, those stories might still persist to protect us. But your saying? That doesn’t make sense. That’s not how our elements interact.”

“Yes it is.”

Harry looked frustrated. “Fire takes the oxygen out of the air, though. It’s not a balanced relationship like that saying implies. Air feeds the flames of fire but loses a key component of itself when it does. And sure, fire burns up grass, but sometimes it’s necessary to burn a poor crop or something because of disease.” Harry had stopped in the middle of the cave, and his voice was rising. “As for fire and water, sure if you just look at us face value water puts out fire but it just takes a little something extra for fire to burn on top of water. I can’t think of _any_ reason for us to be separated. We can make it work.” He paused, chest heaving. “The countries. I mean. The countries can make unity work. Someone just has to take initiative, and be the first who says it’ll be okay.”

Harry was so passionate, it was a wonderful trait. Louis could only smile at his determination. Knowing he’d have such allies in positions of power made him feel better.

“I know we can make it work. I just need to find my soulmate first.”

Harry’s shoulders dropped and he sighed. “Come on, it’s only a little further before we start ascending.”

Louis kept waiting for the water levels to recede but the further they walked the higher the water got. Harry had said it wouldn’t get higher than his knees but the water was comfortably at his thighs now. He had to expand his flame to give them more light, and that only highlighted how cramped the cave was getting.

When they had entered the cave - passed the initial descent - it had been spacious, with a high ceiling and open walls, but now it was narrowing in. Louis still managed to have his feet on the ground, but the ceiling had dropped to almost being his and Harry’s height. Harry had at least the ability to drop down and swim through the water. Louis did not have that luxury. He could only duck down and hope to not hit his head.

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Louis asked after he dodged a low hanging rock and had to dunk down to his chest in the freezing water. His hands both hit the water and his flame went out, leaving them both in the darkness of the cave. Louis cursed. “Harry? Harry where are you?” He shut his eyes and managed to make a flash of fire appear before his face without his hands. It would only hold for a few seconds and he was lucky he didn’t ignite the entirety of open air in the cave. Manifesting fire like that without something to control it tended to do that.

There was a rushing sound. It had to be the pounding of his blood in his ears.

He got his hands out of the water just in time to see Harry turn around, the orange flames reflecting off the glitter of his scales. Before the flame went out Louis saw his eyes, large and black to take in as much as light as possible in the dark. He looked beautiful and terrifying all at once and it took Louis’ breath away.

He managed to get a weak flame on his fingertip as the rushing got louder. Almost like a pounding.

“Just a bit further I think,” Harry said. “It’ll be okay.” Louis could see his outline turn in the shadows as he pulled away from him.

The pounding started to reverberate in his skin.

Louis was up to his neck in water and he could feel a current starting to pick up, pushing and pulling against him. 

His feet were more likely to slip than they were to get to the part where the water got lower.

“Harry.” He could tell his voice was panicked. He was starting to panic. “Harry I really don’t think I can do this. I can’t swim.”

He heard a splash and then suddenly Harry was right in front of him. 

“What? You can’t sw-”

Harry’s voice was cut off as water swept over them. Louis’ breath was knocked out of him just as he was pushed forward into Harry by the force of an oncoming wave. He felt the shock of the cold as Harry wrapped him up in his arms but he couldn’t see anything.

It was dark.

He couldn’t breathe.

He was cold.

Frozen.

Black.

***

He woke up gasping and choking up water with Harry’s presence poised right over him. He turned to his side and vomited up more water, clutching his chest as he tried to gasp in precious, precious air. It was still pitch black and he tried desperately to call forth a flame, something. He was shivering.

Then there was light coming from him, weak like it had been before the water had washed them both away.

He coughed up more water, trying to clear his lungs.

“Where are we?” He asked, voice ragged.

“I got us to a ledge.” If Louis listened he could hear the rushing of the water nearby. He saw the ledge behind Harry, and beyond it… ominous darkness. Harry kept talking. “I didn’t realize there was a cave in and it flooded the cave. And I didn’t know you didn’t know how to swim. You mentioned the coast, and talked about swimming; I just thought-“

“I’m part of the _fire tribe_ ,” he choked out, “my power is useless is water. Of course I don’t know how to swim.” He felt weak. His limbs were heavy.

He stared at Harry who sat there with his fin, looking frightened, as if he hadn’t just led Louis to his death. “I didn’t know.”

“Would it have stopped you?” Louis snapped. “Or did it just make your job easier?”

“What? What job? Louis I was trying-”

“You almost killed me! I kept asking if everything was okay and you said yes. Did you not feel the water rushing in? I can’t _become like you_.” Louis reached out and shoved at Harry. He was weak but he was going to defend himself. He wouldn’t die here. He refused. He needed to find his soulmate. His soulmate that Harry had tricked him into thinking he was bringing.

Everything was a mess.

Louis’ hand connected with Harry’s shoulder and another shock went through him. It was like heat and cold all once. The rushing of fire and the rushing of the water he’d been caught up in.

His eyes widened in realization just as Harry fell back off the ledge and back into the water.

_Harry was his soulmate._

Louis pulled himself to the edge, adrenaline rushing through him. The current was too fast and the cave beneath him was too deep. The small flame he had was in no way large enough to see into the water. 

He was alone up on the ledge, with only the rush of the water and his tiny flame for company. Harry could swim of course but what if he’d hit his head on the sides of the cave? Louis hadn’t asked him if he could breathe underwater or if it was more like whales where Harry would need to come up for air. Could Harry drown?

Louis pulled away from the ledge, trying to calm himself down. He’d killed his soulmate. Or at least, more than likely caused his soulmate to die, just like in every tragic romance novel he’d read. The only difference was he hadn’t even been able to have a small moment of joy with Harry. His last memory would be of their fight.

His flame went out, and he was wrapped in darkness.

He didn’t even bother to turn it back on. It didn’t matter. He didn’t want to see the last place he had a memory of his soulmate.

And the good memories?

What good memories?

He’d met Harry only a handful of times, and spoken to him a total of twice. Both times hadn’t been _good_ exactly. He hadn’t even given Harry thought. Too focused on what he thought his soulmate would be like. He ignored what was right in front of him.

Sobs wracked his body as he curled up around his knees. He was alone, and it was his fault. The fates really were cruel to inter-tribal unions. All he’d wanted was his own happy ending. He’d wanted to take his soulmate - Harry - back to the capital with him. He’d wanted to show them the ocean, and how it stretched endlessly into the sky. He’d wanted to walk along the beach with them, holding hands and planning their future.

Louis wouldn’t be able to get that now. He wouldn’t get to explore those glimpses of humor Harry had shown. He wouldn’t get to see Harry smile ever again. 

Louis clamped his hands around his temple and began to rock, trying to burn the image of Harry’s smile in his mind. The way his cheeks dimpled, half hidden behind his curls. And his eyes.

Louis didn’t even know what color his eyes were.

How could he not know what color his soulmate’s eyes were?

The sobs kept coming even though he knew it wasn’t going to help anything. He couldn’t do anything else. He’d killed his soulmate and he was going to die here and no one would ever know and the fire tribe would invade because he’d gone missing and war would spread across the entire continent.

His people would suffer all because of him and his near-sighted selfishness.

Something smacked against the ledge and Louis started. A flame ignited again and he shone it over to the ledge. He saw a webbed hand clinging for dear life and he gasped in relief. He rushed forward, letting the flame hang above him as he grabbed hold of Harry’s hand. The shock he’d felt before when he shoved Harry came back and he wanted to cry in relief.

It coursed through his body as he clung to Harry, getting him back safe on the ledge. It was warm and cold and comforting to feel the heat course through his body, warming him up.

“Harry, you’re okay. You’re okay. You didn’t drown.”

He felt Harry laugh against him even as he clung back to Louis. His hands were cold and wet and Louis knew his own body was shivering from the cold water but all he felt was the warmth of the shocks. He’d found him. His soulmate. After all these years.

“It’s you,” Louis said, looking into Harry’s eyes. He needed to see what color they were. They were still almost black, with only the faintest line of green. Green like the stone he’d been given from King Liam. “You’re my soulmate.”

“It’s me,” Harry said. “You finally realized.” He was panting, out of breath. Louis couldn’t tell when he started crying because his face was already wet, but the pants quickly dissolved into tears - of relief Louis hoped.

Louis leaned down and pressed their foreheads together, wanted it to comfort Harry. The pulsing warmth of their bond seeped deeper into his skin. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. But I know now. I shouldn’t have attacked you.” They were both shaking with tears. Their noses kept bumping against one another as they tried to calm the adrenaline rushing through them. “I’m so one track minded I couldn’t see what was in front of me. It’s one of my many flaws.”

“I don’t think it’s a flaw. You can’t have flaws, not when you’re perfect.”

Louis laughed. He didn’t even know what kind of crying he was doing. Crying in relief? In happiness? In guilt because of what he had just almost done? In all three? He didn’t know. “I accused you of trying to kill me.”

“I should have told you when we first touched and I realized you didn’t recognize the shock,” Harry said, reaching up to pet his cheek. 

It soothed Louis enough for him to catch a breath and really look at the man beneath him. His soulmate. The person he’d been looking for was in his arms. He hadn’t killed him. They could be together. He’d be able to learn more about Harry. He’d be able to find out his hopes and aspirations. He’d be able to watch Harry’s face when he brought him into the fire country for the first time. He’d be able to see his reaction to endless sand and then endless water.

Happiness was definitely coursing through him. He wished he’d been able to feel like that much earlier.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Louis asked.

“I was going to,” Harry said. “In the heart of this cave is a lake, and the walls are made of this red glass. The cave ceiling is easily thirty feet tall and there are openings in it that let light come through. When the moon is high in the sky it reflects in the lake and off the red glass to make the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. It’s my favorite place in the whole country. When I was younger and had first found it I thought the fates had made it just for me. Especially when I found out my soulmate was from the fire tribe. I was going to bring you there and introduce myself.”

Louis’ heart tugged at Harry’s plan. “I would have loved it.”

“I didn’t know there had been rain up here recently, collapsing some parts of the cave and flooding it. If I’d known I never would have brought you here.”

“It’s okay,” Louis said. “We’re both okay.”

“But you’re trapped here. And I have no way of knowing if the water will stop rising. I can’t risk leaving you here to try and get help until I know it’s not but…”

But if he didn’t try and get help the water might rise and Louis would die anyway.

“It’ll be okay,” Louis assured him. He couldn’t get enough of touching Harry now that he had. He’d read that touching your soulmate was addicting but it had never been described like this. The heat and shivers he felt. A sense of closeness to Harry that he couldn’t explain. His skin was smooth, and the parts where his scales scattered across his skin weren’t as rough as he was expecting. Louis could barely tell the difference after a while. “We’re together. We’ll be okay. The fates wouldn’t let us find each other just to cruelly take one of us away from each other. There has to be another way out. Maybe by digging back that way?” He gestured with his hand at the wall behind them.

Harry looked heartbroken as he reached up at touched Louis’ face with his hands. The translucent webs between his fingers were shrinking. “We’re at least twenty feet underground, if not more based on where I think we are in the cave. There’s no way we could dig out and not risk another cave in, especially with the ground so soft from the rain.”

Louis closed his eyes. His heart started to sink. Harry would need to leave. “How likely is it that the water will recede?”

“Fifty/fifty?” Harry seemed unsure. “I’ve never seen this cave flooded before so I can’t even begin to guess.”

“Okay,” Louis said. “Okay.” He leaned forward and kissed Harry.

If he was going to die here, he might as well enjoy his final hours, or days.

Harry kissed back. His lips were soft, and he tasted clean and fresh. Like water. Louis hoped he didn’t taste like sulfur or something.

He giggled as he broke the kiss and Harry chased his lips.

“Why are you laughing?” Harry whispered, catching his lips in another kiss.

“What do I taste like?”

Harry hummed in thought, kissing him once more and shifting them so they were laying on their sides, arms around each other. “Do you know the scent of a bonfire? When you’ve used seasoned wood and it brings a nice smoke into the air?” Louis nodded, his fingers traveling over Harry’s tunic covered sides and down to his hips. “That’s what you taste like.” Harry kissed him again. This time he flicked his tongue out, letting it sweep against Louis’ bottom lip.

“You,” Louis gasped when they broke the kiss. “Taste like rain water. Can’t tell if that’s because you’ve been in the water or if it’s natural.”

Harry dimpled at him. “You’ll just have to keep kissing me to find out.”

So Louis did. 

He never wanted to stop. He felt so connected with Harry when they were touching, or kissing. In the romance stories he’d read that was always a prevalent theme, the idea that touching your soulmate made you feel like you knew them. He’d always dreamed about what that meant but actually doing it - feeling the way his fire powers seemed to be igniting under his skin - was something indescribable.

“I want more,” Harry whispered. His hand had pulled up Louis’ tunic to the middle of his thigh and he was hovering over the bare skin, waiting for permission. “I want to know everything about you.”

“You will,” Louis promised.

Harry touched his thigh and fire seared through Louis. He felt himself coming alive and the flame he had above them to light the little nook they were in grew stronger. He kissed Harry, pressing his body against him as the tunic was pushed up more, exposing him to his soulmate.

He watched when Harry finally looked at him, and admired his bare body. Harry’s hands never left his skin, tracing up and down and over each plane. Louis was proud of his body. He knew he was attractive, but it hadn’t settled into him how much until he saw the desire on Harry’s face.

Harry dropped a kiss on his jaw, having him tilt back his head so he could suck a bruise onto his neck. It had Louis arching into him, desperate for more. He pulled at Harry’s own tunic until they were rubbing, bare skin against bare skin. Their hands were exploring each other, sending fire down Louis’ spine.

“This is incredible,” Louis whispered into Harry’s ear.

Harry laughed and rolled him onto his back. Louis gasped as he saw red and blue light above them. The light was malleable and moving, almost like a liquid. Intertwining as they were.

He closed his eyes as he kissed Harry and then opened them back up just to look at the light again.

His body was getting warm. Too warm. His heart was racing in his chest, and he could feel it from Harry too. They were coming to a fever pitch, their bodies slick with sweat now and not the water from the cave in. Everything was warm. Harry kept panting above him as he rolled against Louis, over and over and over and the lights. The red and blue lights above them.

Louis couldn’t take his eyes off of them.

The way they fused together creating a beautiful purple and then…

The light exploded right as his eyes rolled back, and Harry let out his own moan of pleasure.

Light purple mist fell down on them. Louis felt it hit his arms that were clinging to Harry’s back, and his face. He looked at it on Harry’s shoulders, little dew drops of shimmering purple. They laid there in silence, staring into each other’s eyes. The mist settled, leaving them both coated in a sheen of light purple. Louis couldn’t stop touching Harry. He wanted to get his fill if this was one of the only times they could be together. Who knew when the water would rise. It had slowed at the very least, but showed no signs of dropping back down.

“I don’t want you to leave me,” Louis whispered.

“I have to. To even give you a chance.”

Louis wanted to cling to him, have Harry stay with him but he knew that wasn’t the best choice. The darkness in the cave messed with his sense of time but the exhaustion in his bones told him it was well past his bedtime. Steve and his guards were probably starting to worry, and who knew who was looking for Harry.

“Promise you’ll come back?”

“The fates themselves wouldn’t be able to stop me.” Harry kissed him once more before sitting up. He scooched over to the ledge and put his feet over it, into the water.

Louis’ flame that had been burning illuminated his back and Louis got to see the soulmate mark on him for the first time. It was black, curving up the length of Harry’s back. He reached out and touched it just as scales started to creep over it, covering up most of the soulmark and making it illegible. Louis traced what he could see as he moved closer, sliding next to Harry and dipping his feet in the water. 

“Don’t,” Harry said, “you’ll get cold.”

“I have enough heat to keep warm,” Louis said as he leaned over and kissed Harry. “And I need to not be afraid of the water. After all, you’ll teach me to swim when we get back to the fire country, yes?”

Harry nodded. “Of course.”

“Okay. Be safe. And please come back quickly.”

“I will,” Harry pulled away and slid down into the water. “I’ll swim the fastest I’ve ever swam before.”

Louis kicked his leg out to swing back onto the ledge and the weight threw him off. He looked down to see what could be stopping him just as he heard Harry gasp.

He had a fin. 

A red, scaled fin.

It wasn’t fully formed like Harry’s with only his ankles fused together but he had scales slowly creeping up his bare skin. 

Harry grabbed him and pulled him into the water.

It wasn’t cold. Or at least it didn’t register as cold the way it had before. He felt insulated from it somehow. And he could see. Oh wow, he could see so much better now. He could make out the cave walls, and Harry, and the flickering light of his flame still up above the water.

He opened his mouth in surprise and found he could breathe. He gasped as bubbles came out of his mouth and he touched his throat in surprise.

Harry was in front of him, appearing to be floating.

“Louis.”

His voice was different. Ethereal. Louis grabbed his ears in surprise.

“Louis, you...you changed.”

“I did,” Louis felt himself say. His own voice sounded different under water.

Now if only he could swim.

He tried to kick his tail, back and forth. Back and forth.

His head broke the surface of the water.

“What just happened?” He gasped, looking at Harry who had followed him.

“The mist?”

“It… are…do you think you can manifest fire now?”

Harry brought his hand above water and squinted at it. It didn’t look any different, still webbed with long fingers.

A flame ignited on the tip of his forefinger before it quickly went out.

They both gasped.

“We? Share?” Harry asked.

“I… don’t know. But we can get out now. Together.”

Harry nodded, reaching over and grabbing Louis by the hand. “Together.”

***

They emerged from the cave at dawn’s first light. They were both soaked and laughing as they did. Now that they knew they could get out their spirits had lifted and it had been _fun_ going back through the cave. Harry has shown off, zig zagging through the maze with quick flashes of his tail while Louis had tried to keep up.

Swimming with a tail was infinitely easier than with two legs. Being able to breathe underwater had helped too.

“We should get Steve and my guards first,” Louis said after they were back to two legs. “Then we can go to your family.”

“Okay,” Harry agreed, taking Louis’ hand. “My mother will be happy. She’d hoped that I would find my soulmate one day.”

“How many people knew you had a fire tribe soulmate?”

“Only my family and closest friends. My scales cover up a lot of the mark.”

“I’d noticed.” Louis had a moment to pause as the villa came into sight. “Will your people approve? Of the open borders? And you, being with me?”

Harry smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss. “They’re not going to have a choice. I belong with you.”

“We belong together,” Louis agreed.

“And your people? They won’t mind?”

Louis shook his head. “We want peace above all else. How can _this_ ,” he put their hands up to his heart, “not bring peace?”

Harry was quiet as he looked at their hands pressed against Louis’ chest. “Maybe… do you know that old saying? About soulmates?”

“There’s a lot of old saying about soulmates, Harry.”

“ _The bonds that tie us make us stronger_ or however it goes.” Louis nodded, knowing that one well. It was used frequently in books whenever the characters tried to rationalize why _their_ love would be different. “Maybe that was referring to how soulmates share their power. You’ve heard that theory before right? Soulmates are stronger because they share power?” Louis waited for Harry to continue, letting him finish his thought. “We have clearly shared our powers. We are quite possibly the only people on the continent right now with the ability to control more than one element. Maybe that’s why our countries were separated? Because a person with this much power could use it to be evil.” He looked at Louis with wide eyes.

“Maybe,” Louis agreed. “But not us. And we will lead by example. Anyone who is as lucky as us to have a soulmate from another tribe will never think to use their powers for evil. They’ll know about us, King Louis of the fire tribe and Prince Harry of the water tribe, and how our love for each other made us and our countries stronger.”

“They will, you’re absolutely right.” Harry kissed him once more. “Take me to your villa so we can get some new clothes on before we meet my mother.”

To say there was a small eruption when Louis and Harry came through the front door was an understatement. Clearly the four of them had set up a rota where they kept guard of the door, because Lauren and Bebe were awake and waiting.

They jumped up as soon as they heard Louis, questions at the ready.

“Where have you been?” Bebe demanded

“Did you find them?” Lauren asked. 

And then silence fell over them as they both registered Harry behind him.

Bebe recovered first, dropping into a bow. “Prince Harry, to what do we owe this visit?” Lauren copied her. Louis could see both of them were tense, obviously unsure what was happening.

A door opened and Steve came out of his room. Perrie followed from her own room a moment later. They too seemed at a loss for what to say. Especially when confronted with how wet and dirty they both looked. 

Steve was the first one who seemed to realize they were holding hands and he let out a small gasp. “It’s him.”

Harry raised a hand up and smiled. “Hi there. It’s me.”

“It’s him what?” Perrie asked just as Bebe nudged her in the stomach to bow. She went jerkily went down.

“May I introduce my soulmate, Harry of the Styles Water Tribe.”

“You’re…” Perrie breathed out.

“Soulmates,” Lauren finished for her, coming out of her bow so she could gawk alongside Perrie.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all again. I hope you won’t mind the slight change in plans that will probably be happening because of this.” Harry looked at Louis. “We’re going to meet with my mother after we change but I’ll be accompanying you back to your capital.”

“Of course you will,” Steve said. “I should write ahead to the council and tell them-“

“Go back to sleep,” Louis said. “All of you. You’ve been up too long on my account. Harry and I will be changing and then leaving to meet with his family to discuss arrangements. Steve, when you wake up please write a letter to the earth and air tribes first and ask for a meeting. We don’t want them to feel excluded from the talks.” He tugged on Harry’s hand, bringing him towards his rooms. “Go to sleep.” It was his final command before he shut the door to his room. 

Harry giggled as he looked around the sparse room. “Do you think we could have surprised them anymore?”

“Probably not,” Louis said, stripping out of the water tribe tunic. “It _is_ a shame you can’t manifest and control water the same way I can with fire. Would have been very useful for cleaning myself right now instead of drawing a bath. Who knew you could feel dirty after being in water for so long.”

“That water was filled with dirt and sediment from the cave.”

“Disgusting. My hair needs at least three washes.”

“I think your hair looks fine.”

Louis looked over at Harry to see him rifling through Louis’ bag to pull out clothes. He grabbed a tunic for himself and slipped it on after brushing some dirt off of his skin.

“Oh no, we’re at least rinsing off,” Louis said. “Into the bathroom with you.”

Bathing together was a giggly affair that took longer than it probably should have, but they emerged clean. Louis went to his bedside table and his eyes fell on the stone he’d received from King Liam. The one that matched the color of Harry’s eyes.

He’d set it on his bedside table next to a vial of sand he’d collected from along the lake by the hall during lunch. He’d been intending to fashion a glass ring for his soulmate with the stone as the centerpiece but had been too focused on finding out who his soulmate was. He wasn’t the most talented glassmaker by far but he got by, and a ring would be simple enough.

He glanced back at Harry, who was humming happily to himself as he tested the fit of the tunic and pants he’d stolen from Louis. This would only take a few moments.

He poured out the sand into his left hand and manifested the fire with his right. It took a high level of control to heat the sand hot enough to melt and then he could start sculpting it into a ring shape. It took a few tries but he managed to do it and then it was a matter of the stone.

The thing about the stone that King Liam had found was it wouldn’t melt while the glass was being formed. There was nothing like that Louis had seen before. The rocks the fire tribe had were grey and dull, not exactly something you put in to adorne jewelry or embellish art. These rocks though, they were perfect for that.

He set the green stone into the ring, securing it in the glass.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked, right near his ear.

Louis jumped, the flame he was working with disappearing in his surprise. Not that it mattered because the ring was finished. He closed his hand around the ring just to hide it for a moment. “Making you something.”

“Making me something?” Harry’s eyes darted down to his hand. “Making me what?”

Louis took his hand and brought it up to his lips. When he brought it down he slipped the ring onto his finger. It was a tight fit that required him to heat the ring up enjoy enough so it could bend over his knuckle before settling into place.

Harry stared at it when Louis let go of his hand. He brought it up to his face so he could admire it. “You...made this? Just now?”

“Yes. I’m not the best glassmaker by a long shot but-“

“I love it.” Harry’s eyes were shining with tears as he clutched his hand his chest.

“The stone is from the air tribe. They found mines of these kinds of precious stones and I think they’ll go very nicely embedded in our glassware. I’m lucky the stone I picked out matches your eyes.”

Harry shook his head. “It had to have been fate.”

Louis liked the sound of that. He pulled Harry in for one last kiss before he started to get dressed to meet Harry’s family, confident that he had the blessings of the fates to make this work.

A week later he returned back to the capital city of the fire tribe with a new soulmate and a delegation from each of the tribes to hold more talks on opening up the borders.

And they lived happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this feel free to leave a comment, kudos, or [reblog the tumblr post](http://sadaveniren.tumblr.com/post/179257547716/it-holds-the-peace-louis-and-peace-is-good-for) :D


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